Machiavelli: A Socratic?

Erica Benner and Leo Strauss have recently challenged the reigning consensus that, having concentrated on politics, Machiavelli was not a philosopher. Readers did not always consider Machiavelli's work to be unphilosophical; and whether a commentator considers Machiavelli to be a “philosopher” depends on his or her understanding of what a philosopher is. Neither Benner nor Strauss takes the activities and studies of professors of philosophy in universities today to be definitive. Instead, they look to an older tradition both describe as “Socratic.” Benner rests her argument primarily on Machiavelli's references to Xenophon, Plato, and Plutarch. Unfortunately, Machiavelli's references to the works of Xenophon and Plato do not include those that feature Socrates. Strauss points out the similarities between Socrates and Machiavelli's emphasis on the political and their appeal to the young, but he concludes that, although Machiavelli is a “political philosopher,” his use of philosophy to serve the desires of the demos means that he is not a “Socratic.”     

Heritage down the chute: the demolition of Saskatchewan’s grain elevators

Hailed as ‘cathedrals of the plains’ and ‘prairie sentinels’, grain elevators are iconic of Saskatchewan, Canada. Yet with fewer than four hundred and twenty of the original 3300 still standing, Saskatchewan’s historic grain elevators are disappearing at an alarmingly accelerated rate. The loss of historic grain elevators is twice the average loss in historic fabric in Canada in a third of the time despite their being the most widely cited heritage structure by Saskatchewanians. This paper deciphers this dilemma through Nancy Fraser’s three-dimensional model of participatory parity, which serves to reconcile cultural, economic and political pressures on the heritage field and rebalances the field’s disproportionate focus on recognition. This model reveals how larger systems of representation and distribution are impacting official grain elevator recognition under Saskatchewan’s Heritage Property Act (1980) and proposes solutions to increase grain elevator preservation in Saskatchewan.     

Birmingham Bog outdoor laboratory: potentials and possibilities for embedding field-based teaching within the undergraduate classroom

Providing cost-effective, hands-on field-based experiences to large cohorts of undergraduate students provides a core challenge for effective teaching and learning. This grand challenge is tackled through the construction of an exemplar outdoor learning environment within the Environmental Change Outdoor Laboratory (ECOLAB): Birmingham Bog (BB). Adjacent to the Geography building, the facility aims to produce a seamless, interconnected learning environment (in both space and time) that brings inaccessible fieldwork activities direct to the classroom at the time and frequency appropriate to the learning objectives. With the integration of this facility within a 3rd year undergraduate module, we explore through group interviews the ways in which BB adapted and influenced students’ engagement with lecture material, and the extent to which the approach can complement or replace current field based teaching activities. The group interviews identified how BB was considered an example of “effective learning” within the context of the wider degree programme. However, if confirmed, the value placed on residential field courses cannot be met by such campus experiences. Despite this, BB represents an increasingly fertile space for deeper stimulation and innovative ways of learning; diversifying pedagogical techniques and enabling students to re-engage with lecture content.     

Toward an Explanation for Public Interest Group Formation and Proliferation

Utilizing data from a survey of 60 national public interest group founders, this paper addresses two related questions: (a) What factors explain the (relatively) recent proliferation of public interest groups? (b) What factors determine in which policy areas public interest group activity is most likely? The results of the data analysis suggest that several factors have contributed to group proliferation. Among the most important are law group start-up costs, the spread of affluence and education, an increase in patron activity, and rapid societal change. The results also suggest that public interest group activity is most likely in issue areas of interest to well-educated, affluent whites. Ultimately, however, the data suggest there is bound to be a great deal of uncertainty in the public interest group universe. Because group start-up costs are so low and the entrepreneurial pod is so large and varied, virtually any type of public interest group dealing with any issue could form at any time.